Dylan Matthews, the terrific Washington Post blogger, recently wrote a post on the once-and-future governor of Oregon, John Kitzhaber:

Kitzhaber, a former ER doctor, was best known during his previous terms as governor and during his time in the state senate for helping create the Oregon Health Plan (OHP), which was among the first state attempts to experiment with federal Medicaid money to provide broader care. Rather than set up a traditional Medicaid program, OHP aimed to provide fewer, higher-value services to more residents. The system worked well at first, cutting the uninsurance rate from 18 percent in 1992 to 11 percent in 1996, but then started to unravel when an expanded version was passed in Kitzhaber’s last year in office.
Kitzhaber then spent the next few years touting this model, saying that national health reform shouldn’t focus on insurance reforms but on providing a core package of benefits to as many people as possible. He was supportive of health-care reform in 2009 but has been clear this cycle that he doesn’t think it goes far enough.
All of which is to say that I’d bet on Kitzhaber applying for a Waiver for State Innovation under health-care reform. He clearly thinks he can do better than the federal model, and the Affordable Care Act gives him the opportunity to take billions in federal money and craft the system he wants with it. Interestingly, the provision allowing state waivers was written by Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden (D), who might have had exactly this situation in mind.

I just want to note that I’ve been touting Kitzhaber’s approach touting Kitzhaber’s approach since 2006. I wrote many drearily repetitive posts on the subject, including this one from 2007:

We need to follow John Kitzhaber’s lead. Kitzhaber
calls for giving Oregon control of all the public dollars spent on health care in the state. That includes federal Medicare and Medicaid money, state funding for the Oregon Health Plan, and taxes the state currently forgoes because employers are allowed to deduct what they spend on employee health insurance.
This would allow Oregon to
set up a system that provides at least a basic range of coverage for all residents, such as prenatal care, treatment for high blood pressure, and care for other common but often costly ailments.
I’d go much further.

That last part won’t surprise any of you. Though I imagine Kitzhaber is a fan of PPACA, it’s worth noting that his OHP vision involved far more autonomy than is envisioned in the Waivers for State Innovation.